November 24, 2006	Friday	Ziqa'ad 2, 1427

LONDON, Nov 23: Gold steadied in quiet trade on Thursday ahead of a US holiday and looked at the dollar and oil for direction, but platinum gained after tumbling this week from record highs.

Spot gold hovered in a tight $2-an-ounce range and was quoted at $630.50/631.50 an ounce by 1059 GMT, little changed from $629.90/630.90 in New York late on Wednesday.

Gold has been in a pretty narrow range and has been consolidating. I don't expect any dramatic moves in the last weeks of the year, Jeremy East, head of metals trading at Standard Chartered Bank in London, said.

People may be taking some risk off the table and it looks like the long-term investors are staying with the market. Dealers said the market was likely to remain quiet, with the

United States shut for Thanksgiving. There were no US data or policymaker speeches later in the day. Investors would focus on external factors for market direction, they added.

The euro hit a 5-1/2-month high against the dollar, while oil eased after crude stocks piled up in top consumer the United States and weighed heavy on amply-supplied markets.

Gold often moves in the opposite direction of the dollar and is generally seen as a hedge against inflation.

Gold is still struggling to overcome the $628-$630 chart area at the moment but given the dollar's recent movements, I would expect gold to continue higher once the market returns to full operations next week, said James Moore.

In other precious metals, platinum gained as much as 1.8 per cent before falling to $1,155/1,175 an ounce, but still higher from $1,145/1,165 in the US market.

The metal has been volatile this week, hitting a record high of $1,395 on Tuesday on talks of the launch of an exchange traded fund and tumbling 18 per cent the next day.

Now those short positions have been covered and we are almost back to normality now. Medium term, I am quite friendly to the platinum market, East said.

The outlook is good and supply is relatively inelastic. We know that demand is going to be increasing over the next few years, he added.—Reuters